How to Machine Embroider on a Flour Sack Towel

Add a bit of lively embroidery to solid color flour sack towels.

Flour sack towels are made from a tightly woven fabric, once commonly used for giant flour sacks. Machine embroidery is a crafty way to customize these vintage-style home décor accessories with decals or pictures, or even personalized monograms. Add an embroidered image to a set of towels to coordinate with the theme in your kitchen, or monogram a set of towels and present the personalized items as a thoughtful gift for a newlywed couple.

Things You'll Need

• Medium-weight, tear-away stabilizer
• Temporary spray adhesive
• Computer (optional)
• Writable CD or memory card (optional)
• Embroidery machine with embroidery floss

Instructions

1. Place the medium-weight, tear-away stabilizer on the embroidery hoop. Cover the stabilizer with a temporary spray adhesive and lay the towel on top of the stabilizer. Smooth the two together. Align the towel to center the section of the towel you would like embroidered on the hoop. Close and fasten the embroidery hoop.

2. Attach the embroidery hoop, with the stabilizers and towel, to the embroidery machine.

3. Select the pattern you would like embroidered onto the towel. When adding a design for the first time, open up a word processing program on the computer, or the design software for the embroidery machine. Insert or create the image you would like. Adjust the image's color, size or font according to your preferences and save it as a PES file extension. This is the type of file necessary for the embroidery machine.

4. Save the image onto the computer when loading the design to the machine through cables. Save it onto a writable CD or memory card to plug the information directly into the machine. Plug in the device to the machine or transfer the design from the computer through the cables.

5. Start the machine to embroider the new design onto the towel.

6. Open the hoop and remove the towel from the machine when the image is completed. Cut away the large pieces of stabilizer surrounding the embroidery stitching. Tear away the small pieces of stabilizer beneath the stitches. Be careful not to tug on the stitches because this can distort the newly embroidered design. You can leave the stabilizer underneath the stitching if you prefer.

References

• Machine Embroidery With Confidence: A Beginner's Guide; Nancy Luedtke Zieman
• Embroidery Machine Essentials: How to Stabilize, Hoop and Stitch Decorative Designs; Jeanine Twigg
• Embroidery Library Projects: Fabrics 101: Embroidering on Tea Towels & Flour Sack Towels